By the end of the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution had brought about tremendous change, such as the rapid urbanization of cities and development of social reforms. More importantly, it became the turning point in which the emergence of advanced machinery and modern industrial production made the U.S. one of the most economically powerful countries in the world. As the U.S. was exponentially expanding, the demand for labor workers — more specifically cheap labor — was increasing. A never-ending influx of new immigrants that came rushing into America satisfied the hunger of corporate leaders and business tycoons. However, none of these immigrants envisioned to experience the racism and inequality they did from the vast unrest that
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The growing “Laissez- Faire” ideology — a belief that preached minimal government interference in the economy — was greatly admired by industrialists and businessmen of the time, who advocated the courts to hammer down laws that promoted the involvement of either federal or state government in economic regulations. Many corporate leaders were involved in illegal dealings which included bribing judges and legislators, employing arm-twisting lobbyists, and electing their own “creatures” to high office. Federal courts — usually filled with “well-fed”, conservative judges — were easily persuaded by corporate leaders to rule most strikes and unions illegal. In situations like the “Homestead Strike of 1892”, the “Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers” (AAISW) successful got rid of the scabs and Pinkertons who came to the steel plants in Homestead, Pennsylvania. However, because Carnegie’s right-hand man Henry C. Frick was stern with the labor unions and had connections, federal troops were ordered to come in three days after the strike broke out to disperse the union members. Authorities charged many of the protester leaders with murder and 160 other strikers with lesser crimes (Bailey 598). A similar incident occurred during the “Pullman Strike of 1894”, in which the “American Railway Union” of about 150,000 members overturned Pullman cars and paralyzed railway traffic from Chicago to the Pacific coast to protest massive wage cuts. Such turmoil was not lightly taken by U.S. attorney general Richard Olney, who was also an ex-railroad attorney. Olney ordered for the dispatch of federal troops on the grounds that the strikers were interfering with the transit of U.S. mail. President Cleveland, who later made an
The growing “Laissez- Faire” ideology — a belief that preached minimal government interference in the economy — was greatly admired by industrialists and businessmen of the time, who advocated the courts to hammer down laws that promoted the involvement of either federal or state government in economic regulations. Many corporate leaders were involved in illegal dealings which included bribing judges and legislators, employing arm-twisting lobbyists, and electing their own “creatures” to high office. Federal courts — usually filled with “well-fed”, conservative judges — were easily persuaded by corporate leaders to rule most strikes and unions illegal. In situations like the “Homestead Strike of 1892”, the “Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers” (AAISW) successful got rid of the scabs and Pinkertons who came to the steel plants in Homestead, Pennsylvania. However, because Carnegie’s right-hand man Henry C. Frick was stern with the labor unions and had connections, federal troops were ordered to come in three days after the strike broke out to disperse the union members. Authorities charged many of the protester leaders with murder and 160 other strikers with lesser crimes (Bailey 598). A similar incident occurred during the “Pullman Strike of 1894”, in which the “American Railway Union” of about 150,000 members overturned Pullman cars and paralyzed railway traffic from Chicago to the Pacific coast to protest massive wage cuts. Such turmoil was not lightly taken by U.S. attorney general Richard Olney, who was also an ex-railroad attorney. Olney ordered for the dispatch of federal troops on the grounds that the strikers were interfering with the transit of U.S. mail. President Cleveland, who later made an